The Hidden Warrior
by Inushuik
Summary: Brightspring is a new warrior of Thunderclan, getting in trouble and trying to gain the attention of Icestrike from the mouse-brained Silversong. But then she remembers something. . . and has to make the choice on whether to save her clan or not. Plot Credit goes to Simply peachy, winner of my warriors contest!
1. Introduction

**Either you've read some of my past FanFictions and saw this one, or you've stumbled upon in looking through the warrior fics. No matter how you got here, read ahead! Chapter one is listed below, so make sure to scroll!**

**Credit goes to Simply Peachy for creating the whole plot for this FanFiction along with the characters Brightspring, Icestrike, and Silversong. She did the hard part, I'm just writing it down. ^.^**

**Thank you to DragonFlames-and-WaterWhisper for Flyingshadow, and Sunshadow-and-leaffang for the cat Sunshadow.**

**Allegiances:**

**Thunderclan**

Leader: Aspenstar- a russet she-cat with a long-haired tail

Deputy: Adderfang- large grey tabby tom

Medicine Cat: Kestrelfoot- small brown tom with tabby stripes

Warriors:

Falconstrike- golden tom with brown eyes

Nightmask- black and white tom with bright green eyes

Small-leap- timid black she-cat

Finchfur- light brown tom with white paws _(Apprentice: Cloverpaw)_

Sunshadow- light ginger she-cat with brown eyes

Birchtail- a blue grey tom

Brightspring- ginger she-cat with dark tabby stripes and white underbelly

Sageclaw- small light brown she-cat _(Apprentice: Ashpaw)_

Flyingshadow- dark grey tabby tom

Icestrike- broad shouldered grey and white tom

Mossnose- mossy colored she-cat

Silversong- pretty silver she-cat with blue eyes

Apprentices:

Cloverpaw- pretty white she-cat with green eyes

Ashpaw- dark grey tom

Queens:

Berrythorn- grey tabby she-cat (Expecting Finchfur's kits)

Elders:

Breezewhisper- frail old tom, most of his body white with age

**Shadowclan**

Leader: Larkstar- broad shouldered brown colored tom

Deputy: Hawkfeather- a long haired black tom

Medicine Cat: Brindleface- a golden colored she-cat with darker brindle stripes

Warriors:

Yewclaw- dark ginger she-cat

Snakestrike- a broad shouldered grey tabby tom

**Riverclan**

Leader: Sorrelstar- a sandy colored she-cat with odd black and white splotches

Deputy: Quailtail- a sleek silver she-cat

Medicine Cat: Reedwhisper- a quiet brown tom with white paws

**Windclan**

Leader: Swiftstar- tall sleek she-cat with light tabby markings

Deputy: Beechfur- a light brown tom with amber eyes

Medicine Cat: Fernfall- a cream colored she-cat

**Cats Outside the clans**

Fox- light grey tom with a white underbelly and a torn ear

Ashes- ginger she-cat with tabby stripes

Dusk- dirty grey tom with bright green eyes

**Chapter One**

"I need Brightspring and Sageclaw to come on a border patrol with me." Thunderclan's deputy called.

Brightspring pricked her ears. A border patrol? Finally! She was feeling as cooped up as a kittypet sitting around camp all day. "I'm ready to go, Adderfang!" she called to the grey deputy.

Sageclaw padded up. "Can I bring Ashpaw with me? He needs to work on tracking scents." Her ears twitched. "He needs some more work before he's ready to become a warrior."

A flick of the deputy's tail signaled a yes, and soon Ashpaw was standing by his mentor. Brightspring curled her claws into the camp ground. She was ready to go _now_. Why did the planning of patrols always take longer than the patrol themselves?

They padded through the thick forest, and Brightspring took in her favorite scents. Pine. Mouse. The cool wind ruffled her ginger fur, pushing it close to her body. She always felt better outside the camp, being able to let her legs out and run. She had tried running camp as an apprentice. . . sometimes her ears still rang with the disciplinary bat Nightmask gave her. She made sure to give the dark tom a wide berth whenever she felt the need to stretch her legs.

"We need to check up Shadowclan's border today. Falconstrike mentioned they were getting too close our side." Adderfang instructed, his ears searching for sounds. Brightspring did the same but all she heard was light call of a crow and the rustle of prey shifting between the undergrowth.

"Do you smell that?" Sageclaw mewed. Her attention turned to the grey apprentice beside her. "I want you to scout ahead, see what scents you can find."

"What am I looking for?" Ashpaw asked.

Sageclaw shrugged, as if she didn't know. "Whatever you don't smell in Thunderclan. Anything unusual."

Ashpaw surged ahead of them. Brightspring swore to Starclan the apprentice created a breeze, that's how fast she flew by. She envied the young apprentice. As a warrior she could not longer run off, she had responsibilities to the clan. She glanced at Sageclaw. Though she wouldn't mind having an apprentice to train. . .

With a lift of her head and an opening of her maw the sense of the forest surrounded her. The Shadowclan border was not that far from here, and Ashpaw's trail continued on front of theirs for many tail-lengths.

Speaking of Ashpaw, here came the small apprentice now.

"Sageclaw, Sageclaw!" He gasped.

The light brown she-cat looked at her apprentice. "What is it?"

"I did it." Ashpaw's chest puffed out proudly, making him look like a fat canary. Brightspring held back a laugh. "I scented Shadowclan. They're really close."

Brightspring's laugh disappeared. Shadowclan? "Let's go." she mewed to Addercrawl, quickly going forward.

"Get back here Brightspring!" Addercrawl yowled, but she already was at the border, her heart pumping to go against the smelly Shadowclan cats.

There they were! Ashpaw was right, they were close to the border, sniffing around the tree edges and talking to each other. They were probably looking for prey. Brightspring growled, no pesky Shadowclan cat was going to take her clan's prey. There was an unfamiliar dark ginger she-cat and grey tom, but she recognized the deputy's long black fur.

"Hawkfeather!" she called to the tom, stepping out of the bushes. "I caught your patrol crossing our territory."

Hawkfeather's head turned to her. He let out a chuckle. "I enjoy when new warriors think they take on a whole patrol. I know you, though. You're Brightspring."

"Yewclaw I'm so afraid!" the grey tom cried to the ginger she-cat.

Yewclaw sneered. "We haven't even crossed the border line, bee-brain."

Brightspring sniffed. Yewclaw was right. . . her confidence quickly faded. "Well. . . make sure you don't!" _Good threat, Brightspring. Real frightening._

Adderfang pushed through the brambles. "Hawkfeather." He greeted, Sageclaw and Ashpaw not far behind.

"Can you control your warriors, Adderfang? She's making accusations of us crossing you border." Hawkfeather called.

Adderfang sighed. "My apologies, Hawkfeather." Brightspring met his eyes. "Brightspring, we're leaving now."

Brightspring followed her deputy back into Thunderclan territory, looking back at the Shadowclan cats, only to see the smug looks on their faces. Her head hung in embarrassment. She had made a fool of herself and Thunderclan. Great.

"Don't you smell that?" Ashpaw piped up, head up. "I've never smelled that before!"

Sageclaw placed her tail on his shoulder. "We're done scent training for today, Ashpaw."

"I smell it." Ashpaw pressed. "It's not Thunderclan."

But they padded on, Brightspring smelled the scent too and it wasn't Thunderclan. It flared in her mind. She knew it from somewhere, but where? I was foreign, faintly of twolegs and musk.

Brightspring sighed. _Don't say anything, Brightspring, wouldn't want to make a fool of yourself again. _

**Author Note: Just a small introduction. Brightspring is an impulsive she-cat, always going right and left at the same time. It gets in her a lot trouble sometimes. **

**Feedback is greatly appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Wow, thanks for the feedback everyone! Make sure to keep telling me what you think of Brightspring. **

**Chapter Two**

The two apprentices tumbled down in the training hollow, the trees rising up to block out a harsh sunlight, and bushes blocked any cats from rolling out of the hollow and down the birr-filled slope and down to the lake. Brightspring could heard it's waves lapping at the dirt shore. A couple of figures could be seen way down by the Riverclan border, running through the water. For a moment, Brightspring envied the sleek cats ability to swim so well. _But my home is in Thunderclan, and I would never give up the tree tops just to be in the water for a few moments._ She thought.

"Cloverpaw, you call that a tackle? Make sure to tuck your paws in when you roll, not fumbling around like a kit." Finchfur's call brought Brightspring back to reality.

Cloverpaw shook her head, sheathed paws scrapping the ground. Swiftly, she threw her body at Ashpaw's and they fell in a cloud of dirt. As the dirt settled, Brightspring saw Cloverpaw's white pelt standing on top of Ashpaw's. "I got him!" she yowled. "Take that Ashpaw."

Finchfur nodded. "Much better. Let's see you do that move against a warrior." His sights settled on Brightspring. "Don't hold back, Brightspring, she needs to stop messing around and know what a battle will be like."

Sageclaw huffed. "You're so hard on her, Finchfur. There's no sign of any battles between any of the clans."

"I want her to be ready." Finchfur said, and Brightspring believed him. The harsh scars on the tom's lower back told her he knew more about battle than any other cat in the hollow.

Cloverpaw crouched into a battle stance as Brightspring settled in the middle of the clearing, tail flicking wildly. Brightspring didn't mind helping the mentors out with their apprentices, that's why she was here anyways.

Cloverpaw let out a battle cry, and Brightspring braced for the impact. The apprentice's paws hit into her shoulders, pushing her backwards to the ground_. Oh Starclan, no she doesn't!_ Brightspring thought, twisting her body from under the apprentices, her back facing Cloverpaw's belly. With a heave of her hindlegs, Brightspring sent Cloverpaw into the bushes.

Brightspring stood, shaking the dirt from her pelt. Cloverpaw's head popped out of the top of bush, leaves stuck in her fur. Brightspring purred in amusement. "Cloverpaw you look like a bush-cat!"

Cloverpaw looked down at her bush body, shaking and growling. "Fear me, for I am bush-cat! I will eat all the squirrels and lure them into my soft bush leaves!"

"Focus!" Finchfur growled. Both she-cats grew quiet. "Brightspring, what was that move you just did?"

"The rolling one? It's what you were just teaching Cloverpaw." Brightspring mewed.

Finchfur shook his head. "No, this one." he replayed the move where Brightspring twisted under Cloverpaw and bucked his hind legs for when she had thrown Cloverpaw off her. "Did Falconstrike teach that to you?"

Brightspring thought back to her mentor. "No." she mewed, slightly surprised. "I've just. . . always known it. Since I was a kit it was a move we used when he use to play."

Sageclaw glanced at Finchfur, both of the older warriors sharing concerned looks. Brightspring sighed, knowing they were thinking about her. Aspenstar had told her that she was not of complete Thunderclan decent, that as a kit she had been found outside Thunderclan's camp. But that doesn't mean she wasn't Thunderclan. A moon earlier a queen, Bluestream, had left Thunderclan. She could be Bluestream's kit as well as any other queen's.

"Well, you should teach that to Ashpaw, too." Sageclaw finally mewed. "It's a good move to know. In fact, I think we should run it by Aspenstar, start teaching it to the warriors too."

Her spirits rose. "I'd be willing to show Aspenstar the move." Brightspring purred, thinking of being recognized by Thunderclan's russet leader.

"Knock it off!" Finchfur growled to the apprentices, who had begun to tussle with each other while they were talking. Sageclaw placed a comforting paw on Finchfur's shoulder, and his voice lowered. "It's time we get back. I have night patrol and want to get some sleep."

Brightspring followed the senior warriors out of the training hollow and down toward the slope that would lead to the camp. The large rocky structure loomed below her, threatening to throw her off if she didn't stop in time. It had always surprised her how quickly the camp could appear; if a cat wasn't paying attention the fall to the camp would certainly break a few bones, or more.

But finding her way down was natural to Brightspring. It was a feat she has been doing since a kit, and her paws knew where to go without her thinking, like a true Thunderclan cat.

"How was training?" A voice came from behind her.

Brightspring turned, to see her friend Mossnose behind her, a plump vole hanging from her jaws. "Great! I get to teach the apprentices a new move, and if Aspenstar approves I can teach it to the rest of Thunderclan."

Mossnose nodded her golden head. "A move from when you were a kit?"

Brightspring sighed, Mossnose always had no problem talking about her kit-hood. "I guess so, it just happened- who are you gesturing too?" Brightspring turned her head to see how Mossnose was wildly waving her tail her tail at.

"Oh no." Brightspring hissed to Mossnose, who still have waving. She tried to duck her head and hide. "Why are you telling him to come over here?"

"Icestrike, I wanted you to tell Brightspring what we found on the patrol today." Mossnose mewed smugly, proud of herself.

Brightspring turned her head to face Icestrike's thick pelt, a bright white with large grey splotches. She almost knew it by heart. Her blood rushed through her, great Starclan she might burst!

"Sure." Icestrike mewed, training his grey eyes on her. "Well were up by the top of the border, and smelled this weird scent." His nose wrinkled. "It was kind of musky. But we found a loner hiding in the bushes. We tried to catch him, but he disappeared."

"You hear that, Brightspring? Wasn't that the scent you told me about the other day?" Mossnose bumped her shoulder.

Brightspring looked at Icestrike, then Mossnose. "I- uh. Yeah they were but. . .um." She glanced at Mossnose. "I have to go. . .eat." Then she turned tail and trotted quickly to the other side of the camp, grabbing a mouse from the fresh-kill pile.

A shadow fell over her. "Very smooth." the milky voice of Silversong mewed. "You know, Icestrike isn't much into she-cat who can't talk."

"No one wants to hear you talk, either." Brightspring retorted. The silver she-cat only laughed. Heat bubbled up in Brightspring. "Just because you're the deputy's kit doesn't mean you get what you want. You have to follow the warrior code just like I do."

Silversong shrugged. "I am. I just follow it better than you do." She padded away, tail flicking carelessly.

Brightspring angrily ripped out a bite from her mouse.

**A/N: And welcome to, the love triangle! Don't worry though. We meet a new character in the next chapter, someone who makes a big impact on Brightspring's life!**

**I always want to know what you think! The box is right below, please give me some feedback.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

His shoulders moved with strength, grabbing and pulling the dark tom up the tree. The sight made his spine go cold, how much power this tom seemed to expel. It wasn't just him though. The cats around him were still at the sight of the tom. It was like a wave was sent out, one that required quietness, respect, all without being said. It spread out quickly, like how leaf-bare seemed to suddenly be in the forest one day, and be gone the next.

His father always managed to make Dusk afraid.

"Followers!" His father called from the strongest branch in the tree, sitting up to his fullest height, the white patch on his belly showing in the darkness. His face was narrow, long. It was sneaky, fox-like. "We have finally made it to the clans."

A yowl of excitement went up. Dusk even had to let out a breath of relief. The trip had been hard. He thought back on the long days, the tall mountains with the rock cats and the sore paws. It's he had known since kit-hood. Many cats had been hurt, but finally they had found the four clans and could get what they wanted.

"But it is not over yet. Your loyalty has served well but we have much farther to go. Your loyalty will have to be tested with patience." He went on. "We don't know anything about these clans. They could be all that we have heard of from the kittypets, like the fierce lions and tigers of before the sun and moon, or they could be like what the loners say, soft cats who take in any cat they can. We have to stake out these clans. The one they call Thunderclan most importantly, for I think that is where my kin have been taken. You future ruler has been living with these thieves!"

Cats growled, hissing and spitting. Dusk met his father's eyes, and only nodded. The large tom could move crowds unlike any other tom. He saw a flash of ginger fur out of the corner of his eyes. Mother, Ashes. Turning, he gave her a nod too. He remember her words as a kit. Don't show too much emotion when father is talking to their followers. Power is appearance, and that's how they ruled.

"We must spy on these cats. I need cats to learn their weakness, their strengths. Where they live and how their hierarchy is different from ours!" Duck heard his father call from the tree branch.

"Fox!" a she-cat hollered. "We should take one of their cats for questioning." Dusk recognized her calico pelt. It was Chakra, the she-cat who had been following them since Dusk could remember.

Fox seemed to think this over. "Very well, Chakra, I will accept your words. Dusk will lead a patrol out to take one of these cats!"

_Oh, dirt. _Dusk thought.

-x-

They padded cautiously through the thick brambles, leaves crunching under their paws. For so many different cats from faraway places, they could work together easily. Dusk was up front, ear swiveling wildly to hear for other cats. He didn't know if he could out-run clan cats again, like he had the day before.

"Dusk." a grey she-cat mewed. Lorna. "Do you smell that fresh trail?"

He sniffed. Yes, the scent that faintly surrounded these forests was strong, doing downhill to a small hollow. He moved his tail, giving the signal to stay down. They made their way down to the hollow, where a blue-grey tom was sitting. There was a crack behind him, and Dusk winced, turning to see that Charka had stepped on a small twig.

"Sunshadow?" the tom called out.

"Go!" Dusk called, racing into the hollow, pouncing on the tom., knocking him down. The down was turning faster than he could think, and Dusk's body hit the ground with a thud, this breath leaving him.

But before Dusk had hit the ground Lorna had pounced on the tom. His patrol circled the tom, making it hard to see him in the mass of cats attack. He stood. "Don't hurt him too much! He must be well to be taken to Fox!"

"Fox my fur!" a voice snarled behind him, and once more he pummeled to the ground, the dirt filling his nose. he coughed for air, and turned to see a white and grey tom above him. He gasped, seeing more cats swarming around him. They smell like the forest. The clan cats!

Dusk slashed his claws wildly, getting a few holds on the tom's fur. He kicked his legs and snapped his jaws for the toms neck.

"No you don't!" The tom yowled, pressing him down. "Flyingshadow, Nightmask, get Birchtail!"

Two cats rushed to the heart of the fight, slashing his cats away easily to get to the blue-grey tom they called Birchtail. Dusk twisted his body, arching his back to throw the tom off balance and run to his group. They were outnumbered with these cats.

"Followers! Go back!" he called, running into the forest, hearing the pound of paws behind him. He turned to see his cats all behind him, remotely un-hurt.

They ran back to camp, to face an angry Fox.

-x-

Brightspring threaded a branch through the warriors den, it's thorns poking into her fur. "Remind me again why Aspenstar asked us to fix the dens." Brightspring mumbled around the branches in her mouth.

Mossnose poked her with a branch. "Every other cat was on patrols or sleeping. We could have been put on dawn patrol." she mewed.

Brightspring sighed. "I'd much rather be on the border patrol with Icestrike right now." she mewed.

Mossnose glanced at her. "Why'd you run away yesterday? I was trying to get you to talk to him, mouse-brain!"

"When I try it seems like I have a mouse-brain. I forget to talk!" Brightspring told her, finishing with her branch.

Mossnose bumped her. "Brightspring, look!" she gasped, dropping her branch.

"What?" she asked, following the she-cat's gaze to the camp entrance. Small-leap pushed through first, the top of her nose bleeding. Flyingshadow and Nightmask came in next, a cat balanced between their shoulders, the blue-grey fur covered in more red than fur.

"Birchtail!" a wail rose through the camp. Sunshadow's light fur raced through camp. She buried her face in the tom's fur as he was lowered to the ground.

Kestrelfoot followed her, his jaw full of herbs. He started working on Birchtail.

Aspenstar came out from her den. "What happened here?" She hissed, looking to Icestrike, who had just come through the entrance last.

He glanced around. "That rouge we found yesterday came back. This time he brought more rouges with him, and our patrol came across them attacking Birchtail. We chased them to the end of the border, but who knows where they have gone." He looked at the cat lying on the camp floor. "I don't know why they were attacking. The lead rouge said something about taking him back."

Aspenstar nodded. "They want a cat for something. I will take care of this." she mewed. "Kestrelfoot, how is Birchtail looking?"

The medicine cat raised his head. "He's alive, but he is not awake. I don't know if he will wake up."

Sunshadow let out another wail, and cats started to shuffle around the camp, pretending to do their duties, whispering to each other.

"Go talk to her." Mossnose whispered to Brightspring. Brightspring felt surprise jolt through her. What was Mossnose talking about? Mossnose nodded her head in Sunshadow direction. "Go."

Brightspring gave her friend a look, but padded to the wailing she-cat, placing a tail on her shoulder. Sunshadow jerked in surprise.

"Go away." Sunshadow mewed, giving Birchtail's ear a lick. "I want to be alone with my mate."

"Let's get to the medicine cat den, where you can wait for him." Brightspring said. She looked down at the hurt warrior. His sides were covered in wounds. She felt her legs start to shake. "I'm sorry about Birchtail, but he will get better."

Sunshadow growled. "He better, but those cats will pay for what they have done."

**A/N: Kind of long today, sorry about that I got carried away. **

**But a bit of history about the band of rouges that you have met today. They are cats that follow their leader Fox, and live in the type of hierarchy where leader is passed down through kin, not by votes. Fox is like a king, and Dusk would be the future king with his siblings. The cats that follow him? His loyal servants in a way. They are cats he has helped and in return they have pledged themselves to him. They think very differently from the clan cats. Maybe Fox needs his own story on him he came to be. **

**Tell me what you think of Dusk and Fox!**


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